Obamahttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/7813/all
enObamacare Ads Enlist Your Motherhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/government-enlisting-your-mother-get-you-sign-healthcare-156301
Sam Thielman<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/moms-healthcare-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
We&#39;ve seen the president on <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/healthcaregovs-millennial-outreach-masterstroke-obama-between-two-ferns-156240" target="_blank">Between Two Ferns</a>, we&#39;ve seen Billy Eichner quiz Olivia Wilde on the subject of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poH2sGG9Y84" target="_blank">&quot;Obamacare or shut up,&quot;</a>&nbsp;and now we have your mother, who is <em>very</em> disappointed in you, young man/lady, especially if your names are Jonah Hill, Adam Levine, Alicia Keys or Jennifer Lopez and you don&#39;t have health insurance.</p>
<p>
The Obama administration has been going all out to promote the new law to millennials as the March 31 deadline for market-based, potentially subsidized healthcare enrollment approaches. And by and large, the president is going with, &quot;You think you&#39;re invincible, but you&#39;re not&quot; (versions of that message appear in both this ad and Zach G&#39;s hilarious interview). Tip: go with &quot;free money for health insurance, maybe&quot; on the next few executions, see what that does.</p>
<p>
Droga5 helped with the creative on this spot, which is good&mdash;funny, classy, just the right pitch of we&#39;re-making-you-feel-guilty-haha-no-but-seriously. Adweek hears that the next execution involves a major sports figure and will be aimed at a different audience.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;I grew up in Australia, a country where healthcare is a right for everyone, not a privilege for a few,&rdquo; said David Droga, Droga5&#39;s founder and creative chairman. &ldquo;No one I know has ever regretted having healthcare. So anything we could do to help was a privilege.&rdquo; The Obama campaign loved Droga&mdash;the company&#39;s Thunderclap tool (which amplifies Twitter messaging) was used prominently during the 2012 election.</p>
<p>
Best on all counts is the interplay between Sharon Feldstein (Jonah Hill&#39;s mom) and Patsy Noah (Adam Levine&#39;s mom), who were apparently pals while their kids were doing all kinds of inadvisable things growing up. Michele Obama shows up at the end: &quot;We nag because we love you,&quot; she says. Thanks, government!</p>
<p>
You can watch below.</p>
<p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="367" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/OPMsZYyesRE" width="652"></iframe></p>
Advertising & BrandingAdam LevineAffordable Care ActAlicia KeysHealthcareJennifer LopezSam ThielmanObamaObamacarePoliticsFri, 14 Mar 2014 13:08:35 +0000156301 at http://www.adweek.comState of the Union: One Huge Online Branding Warhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/state-union-one-huge-online-branding-war-147257
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/marco-rubio-water-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
It&#39;s become standard practice during widely broadcasted social events (especially political ones) for interested persons and groups to wage a quiet social media war to grab real estate in front of an already captive audience and try to ignite that elusive viral spark. During the 2012 election cycle, the Obama campaign crafted and executed the most advanced and successful of these campaigns, with moments like its <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/obama-campaigns-brilliant-social-media-response-143260" target="_blank">Twitter response</a> to Clint Eastwood&#39;s empty chair speech at the RNC, which went viral before Eastwood had exited the&nbsp;Tampa Bay Times Forum.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Flash forward to last night&#39;s State of the Union address,&nbsp;and it was clear that the Obama administration&#39;s digital team has carried over many of these tactics. Both the @BarackObama account and @whitehouse tweeted Obama&#39;s speech nearly verbatim, embedding both powerful and playful photos and infographics in real time at key moments to highlight, add emphasis, and hopefully achieve that viral spark.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
&quot;I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts.&quot; &mdash;President Obama <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23EqualPay">#EqualPay</a> <a href="http://t.co/NONmmUjO" title="http://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/301523725872922624/photo/1">twitter.com/whitehouse/sta&hellip;</a></p>
&mdash; The White House (@whitehouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/whitehouse/status/301523725872922624">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
Others have clearly caught on and throughout the night, if you were looking for it, both politicians and brands were hard at work, hoping to capitalize on any big moments of the evening. While a series of organizations from Chevron to Bankrupting America <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/obama-gets-tweet-heat-state-union-147236" target="_blank">tried to leverage</a> the promoted trend on #SOTU throughout the day, companies like search engine Bing pounced on social moments grabbing the promoted tweet for #TheyDeserveAVote, a powerful moment from the guns portion near the end of Obama&#39;s speech.</p>
<p>
Later in the evening, during the Republican response address, Senator Marco Rubio&#39;s speech was nearly drowned out across social media by the legislator&#39;s decision to hurriedly grab a sip of water during his address. The political gaffe, a favorite of the social media-obsessed, political-chattering class, was quickly disseminated through animated GIFs and tens of thousands of derisive mentions.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Best part of Rubio&#39;s response to the State of the Union: <a href="http://t.co/JFoRLgRf" title="http://twitpic.com/c38o58">twitpic.com/c38o58</a></p>
&mdash; Pavana Kaine (@outinthespere) <a href="https://twitter.com/outinthespere/status/301556688316669952">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
Yet, what could surely have been a damning flub, was quickly saved due to a quick bit of maneuvering from the Senator&#39;s social media team, which tweeted a self-deprecating, good-natured acknowledgement of the incident. &nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
<a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23GOPResponse">#GOPResponse</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23SOTU">#SOTU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23gop">#gop</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23tcot">#tcot</a> <a href="http://t.co/3hxtgdbP" title="http://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/301541052949614593/photo/1">twitter.com/marcorubio/sta&hellip;</a></p>
&mdash; Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/301541052949614593">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
While this type of rapid social response has become the norm&mdash;Oreo has been in the spotlight ever since its quick Twitter rebuttal to the Super Bowl blackout&mdash;the clever Rubio team response was indicative of the entire night across social media, where behind the scenes of any major event, social media response teams lurk around every corner to capitalize on or staunch the bleeding that occurs on networks like Twitter. And as if to prove the point, one need look no further than Poland Spring, which quite publicly failed to cash in on the Rubio #watergate and a free shot at trending nationally.&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
RT @<a href="https://twitter.com/jeremystahl">jeremystahl</a>: Poland Spring is trending in the U.S. right now. As is <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23waterbreak">#waterbreak</a></p>
&mdash; Slate (@Slate) <a href="https://twitter.com/Slate/status/301544121586286592">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Poland Spring product placement!</p>
&mdash; John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) <a href="https://twitter.com/jpodhoretz/status/301536774914723841">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
BRILLIANT PRODUCT PLACEMENT POLAND SPRING</p>
&mdash; Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SimonMaloy/status/301536692442112002">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></s
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If you're looking for an Oreo-style Twitter response from Poland Spring, look elsewhere. Nobody's home. <a href="http://t.co/4fduOBdp" title="http://sfbne.ws/14RnMQd">sfbne.ws/14RnMQd</a></p>&mdash; ShortFormBlog (@shortformblog) <a href="https://twitter.com/shortformblog/status/301542288855818241">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
If you&#39;re looking for an Oreo-style Twitter response from Poland Spring, look elsewhere. Nobody&#39;s home. <a href="http://t.co/4fduOBdp" title="http://sfbne.ws/14RnMQd">sfbne.ws/14RnMQd</a></p>
&mdash; ShortFormBlog (@shortformblog) <a href="https://twitter.com/shortformblog/status/301542288855818241">February 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
It&#39;s a brave new world out there.</p>
TechnologyBrandsObamaPoland SpringPoliticsRubioCharlie WarzelSOTUTwitterWed, 13 Feb 2013 10:46:16 +0000147257 at http://www.adweek.comHere's the Only Part of the Debate Obama Wonhttp://www.adweek.com/internet-2012/heres-only-part-debate-obama-won-144200
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/blogs/internet-2012-obama-supporters-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
On the University of Denver&#39;s main quad, amid a sea of food trucks, fleets of motorcycle cops, and indie concert acts, it looked more like a music festival than the backdrop for a wonky policy debate. In fact, it would seem at yesterday&#39;s political epicenter, campaigns had to strain to get their messages out over the din of 2,000 college students more interested in a concert than a live MSNBC broadcast. With so much potential to have the message lost in the noise, much of the ground messaging for the event fell on the campaign ground teams, where the Obama campaign outshined team Romney.</p>
<!--break-->
<p>
<img alt="" src="/files/internet-2012-obama-supporters-01-2012.jpg" style="width: 260px; height: 358px; float: left; margin-right: 9px; " />Obama&#39;s ground team, wearing flashy day-glow green shirts made its presence felt everywhere, with call and response chants over megaphones and signs. Oh, the signs. &quot;Colorado for Obama&quot; and &quot;Women for Obama&quot; signs appeared to be the most abundant, but far more noticable were the omnipresent 5x3 foot &quot;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/BarackObamaForward" target="_blank">Forward</a>&quot; signs, which plastered bars and student housing.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Ever-conscious of an opportunity to blanket the bi-partisan debate event with pro-Barack messenging, the Obama team found high visibility moments, like a live taping of MSNBC&#39;s Hardball, in which the volunteers held up the miniature billboards, drowning out a sprinkling of supporters waving Romney/Ryan signs and getting a little national airtime as well.</p>
<p>
Somewhat perplexing was the lack of any real Romney volunteer teams (<a href="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-daily-rundown/49271340/#49271340" target="_blank">considering how crucial Colorado is looking in this election</a>). Coming off the highway toward the University campus, <a href="http://store.mittromney.com/collections/essentials/yard-sign-combo-pack.html?gclid=CP3h35uA6LICFYyZ4AodSzMA4g" target="_blank">Romney/Ryan lawn signs</a> peppered the ground, and lined a few of the grassy areas near the college, but the team that put them there was largely out of sight. In our efforts to find the Romney ground team the most we could find were a smattering of Romney-supporting college students standing near the gate, awaiting the candidate&#39;s motorcade arrival near the debate site. And despite a healthy showing from some third-party &quot;Fire Obama&quot; signs, there was a clear sense that the campaign was focused on efforts to control the message from inside the debate hall (which, after last night&#39;s performance, seems to have paid off).</p>
<p>
Perhaps it&#39;s unfair to single out a single moment of a months and even years long campaign to glean a larger truth, but outside the debate, it was clear the Obama team is steadfast in its guerrila efforts to sway younger swing voters. While the college crowd seemed less partisan and more interested in the general revelry of the day, it was clear that Obama organizers sought to use the opportunity to get out the brand in force, trotting out an ethusiastic and diverse body of volunteers to add to the event&#39;s chaos.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
With the debate over and the pundit class calling a victory for Romney, the fanfare seems less important now. But for the Republican candidate, who seems to have a <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/03/cnn-poll-romney-wins-debate-by-big-margin/comment-page-3/" target="_blank">new lease on life</a> for the remaining month of his campaign, it might behove the campaign to channel that energy into a ground game for these types of bipartisan political events. &nbsp;Or, at the very least, they could get some bigger signs.</p>
TechnologyMarketingbrandingDebateElection 2012Mitt RomneyCharlie WarzelPoliticsPresident Barack ObamaPresident ObamaThu, 04 Oct 2012 18:42:26 +0000144200 at http://www.adweek.comThe Digital Election: Money Flowing Online, but Not Persuasion Adshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/digital-election-money-flowing-online-not-persuasion-ads-144134
Charlie Warzel<p>
While much of the political world is focusing on tomorrow&#39;s <a href="http://debate2012.du.edu/" target="_blank">big debate in Denver</a>, Advertising Week got a taste of the political discussion today at the Interactive Advertising Bureau&#39;s Mixx conference. Hosted by <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/" target="_blank">Talking Points Memo</a> publisher and editor in chief Josh Marshall, Cheryl Contee of <a href="http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/" target="_blank">Jack and Jill Politics</a>, Facebook co-founder and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/chris-hughes-once-a-new-media-pioneer-makes-bet-on-old-media-with-new-republic/2012/07/08/gJQA4fY5WW_story.html" target="_blank">New Republic editor in chief Chris Hughes</a> and Engage DC&#39;s Patrick Ruffini talked about how the presidency will and won&#39;t be decided by the Web. Here are a few highlights:</p>
<p>
<strong>In this social media era, voters get to participate in campaigns. </strong>Managing your message and controlling your message are two different things for campaigns as well as brands, as Cheryl Contee told the Mixx crowd. &quot;Campaigns have to be co-creative with the audience,&quot; she said. &quot;Audiences will accept nothing less.&quot; It&#39;s a nice little sound bite, but also an important lesson that candidates and brands don&#39;t always heed. With social media users more likely to co-opt and mock hashtags than adopt them for their intended meaning, brands can get burned. Some may remember McDonald&#39;s&nbsp;#McDstories debacle last January (commonly referred to as #McFail). The lesson applies to candidates, too. Mitt Romney <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/areyoubetteroff-twitter-hashtag-backfires_b44570" target="_blank">learned this the hard way</a> as Democrats hijacked the campaign&#39;s #areyoubetteroff hashtag last month. It&#39;s more proof if you&#39;re going to engage on social, you have to listen as much as you speak. &quot;Unless people embrace the message themselves and send your message back out, it doesn&#39;t mean much,&quot; Contee said.</p>
<p>
<strong>More money is flowing to online political ads, but they don&#39;t persuade. </strong>Patrick Ruffini, a former webmaster for Bush&#39;s 2004 campaign, claimed that the Obama campaign has spent roughly $57 million on online ads and is on pace for a digital spend of $100 million, which would represent a remarkable number for the medium (according to estimates, <a href="http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1703163/google-grabbed-most-obamas-usd16-million-2008" target="_blank">Obama spent about $16 million</a> online in 2008). Yet while digital spend has proven to be exceptional for fundraising, there&#39;s no real consensus about its ability to sway voters. &quot;Persuasion advertising online is still very, very unproven in this cycle,&quot; Hughes said. Adding to this school of thought, Ruffini noted that &quot;people often underestimate just how easy it is to do a TV ad buy.&quot; Combined, the panelists noted this could be a reason why digital spending still remains a fraction of the TV budget, which has long been used to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/attack-ad-killing-mitt-romney-in-ohio-2012-10" target="_blank">motivate (or scare) those undecided swing-state voters</a>.</p>
<p>
<strong>Online campaign spending will increase in the coming years, because it has to. </strong>Despite the deep-seeded belief in TV among politicos,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>Contee provided a fairly compelling reason why campaigns spending patterns will inevitably change: demographics. African American and Latinos are heavy social media users (African Americans are particularly heavy Twitter users). &quot;As the nation gets younger and browner, campaigns are going to have to move online,&quot; she said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
As the panel wrapped, perhaps the most salient point of the whole session belonged to Hughes, who put campaign advertising into perspective in our highly partisan electoral system. &quot;This is still a 50-50 country,&quot; he said, reminding the panel that Obama won in 2008 with only 53 percent of the nation&#39;s vote. &quot;That means political advertising remains very important.&quot;</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyAdvertising WeekConteeElection2012HughesCharlie WarzelObamaPolitical AdsPoliticsRomneyRuffiniTue, 02 Oct 2012 21:07:27 +0000144134 at http://www.adweek.comAs Conventions Wrap, Democrats Win Round One of Social Media Fighthttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/conventions-wrap-democrats-win-round-one-social-media-fight-143448
Charlie Warzel, Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/obama-tweeting-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
The first round of the presidential social media dogfight wound down Thursday night with the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C&mdash;and it appears Democrats walked away with a formidable victory.</p>
<p>
Putting political views aside, the raw numbers paint a picture of social media dominance for Democrats throughout the conventions, with over 9 million #DNC2012 related tweets tabulated to the #RNC2012&rsquo;s 4 million. Unsurprisingly, the two candidates, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, garnered the highest tweets per minute (TPM) rates for their respective conventions&mdash;but the volume was nowhere near the same. Obama set a political record of 52,757 TPM while Romney came in at a high of 14,289 TPM.</p>
<p>
There are many possible theories for the high DNC Twitter volume. A liberal/coastal tendency toward Twitter use along with the high worldwide visibility of figures like Presidents Obama and Clinton could skew the numbers in the Democrats favor.</p>
<p>
Plus, both Black and Hispanic voters <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-demographics-2012_b23387" target="_blank">are among the most active ethnic groups</a> on Twitter and polls show Obama enjoys well over 80 percent of black voter support and <a href="http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/07/25/obama-maintains-67-pct-support-among-hispanics/" target="_blank">over 60 percent</a> when it comes to Hispanic voters.</p>
<p>
Volume is all well and good, but does it translate to real, actionable votes?&nbsp; Political Twitter consultant Zach Green of <a href="http://www.140elect.com" target="_blank">140elect</a> seems to think it can, especially with the youth vote. &ldquo;With younger voters there is an &lsquo;everyone is doing it&rsquo; and &lsquo;it is cool&rsquo; factor. With Twitter, younger voters can see all their friends talking about the campaign and get a sense that &lsquo;we&rsquo;re all in this together.&#39;&quot;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Green also notes that the Obama grassroots strategy centers on an idea that people are more likely to vote based on those they know who are invested in the campaign rather than the actual issues. &ldquo;For many, Twitter could be that kind of energizer,&rdquo; he said.</p>
<p>
Will Scott, CEO of Search Influence, a New Orleans-based company offering search and social marketing, disagrees. Scott predicts Twitter will do little to sway the electorate. Scott doubts that the social site even impacted TV ratings for the two parties&rsquo; conventions.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;I don&#39;t think Twitter can drive enough interest when [TLC reality series] <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS2SzGUwaMI" target="_blank"><em>Honey Boo Boo</em></a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/honey-boo-boo-ratings-bill-clinton-tlc-368469" target="_blank">beats the RNC in ratings</a> and ties Bill Clinton&#39;s speech,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;[It&rsquo;s] either a sign of the apocalypse or age demographic interest.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
At the same time, Scott has higher regard for <a href="http://www.facebook.com/barackobama" target="_blank">Facebook&rsquo;s political potential</a>. &ldquo;If the Obama campaign is smart, they&#39;ll pull some of the sound bites from Clinton&#39;s speech and turn them into promoted posts,&rdquo; the marketing exec suggested. &ldquo;<a href="http://www.facebook.com/mittromney?ref=ts" target="_blank">Romney&#39;s team</a> could use the same tactic to point out hypocrisies in a well-reasoned way.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Overall, Scott believes that Obama&rsquo;s camp is clearly showing more social marketing muscle compared to the Republican ticket. Despite <a href="http://www.business2community.com/social-media/digital-politics-social-media-presidential-campaigns-0269505" target="_blank">employing a 110-person digital team</a>, he said, Romney apparently has &ldquo;no one actively listening in the channel. When you look at the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/04/1127770/-RNC-Buys-AreYouBetterOff-Learns-you-can-t-control-the-Hashtag" target="_blank">#areyoubetteroff fiasco</a>, there was a total failure to engage traditional conservative hashtags and groups #tcot #gop #healthcare are all missing.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
<strong>Lessons learned</strong></p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/romney-first-presidential-candidate-run-pricey-twitter-ad-143202" target="_blank">As <em>Adweek</em> reported last week</a>, the Romney campaign has been active in the purchase of Promoted Trends, most recently asking Twitter users #AreYouBetterOff with the aformentioned promoted hashtag. However, as the <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/republicans-ask-are-you-better-off-and-many-reply-yes/" target="_blank">experiment backfired</a>, with many tweeting that they are indeed better off than they were four years ago, politicos on Twitter likely learned a valuable lesson about shaping the conversation. &ldquo;People enjoy co-opting hashtags more than using them the way it was originally intended,&rdquo; Green said. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t buy the conversation on Twitter. It doesn&rsquo;t matter who you are. All people have to do is have a retweet something for it to spread. You can&rsquo;t force, you can only steer.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Last night careful observers saw this hypothesis in action. As Vice President Joe Biden addressed the convention in the prime time 10:00 p.m. hour a misuse of the word &lsquo;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/joe-biden-literally-speech_n_1863395.html" target="_blank">literally</a>&rsquo; spawned derision from the political obsessives on Twitter. Working fast, the Obama campaign <a href="http://pbs.twimg.com/media/A2KAqQBCIAAQk4z.png" target="_blank">purchased a Promoted Tweet on the search term, &lsquo;literally&rsquo;</a> in an attempt to control the message in hostile territory. Like all recent political micro-gaffes, the event is forgotten in a matter of hours, but it remains a very tangible reminder of the <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/140-character-or-less-campaign-140067" target="_blank">breakneck speed</a> at which this call-and-response social-media-election campaign is being run.</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
Technology140electBill ClintonDemocratic National ConventionElection 2012FacebookCharlie Warzel, Christopher HeineObamaRepublican National ConventionRomneySearch InfluenceSocialTlcTwitterFri, 07 Sep 2012 19:03:28 +0000143448 at http://www.adweek.comWhite House Updates Mobile App in Time for Electionhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/white-house-updates-mobile-app-time-election-143360
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/unknown-2_0.jpeg"> <p>
Not one to <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/adweeks-digital-guide-election-apps-and-sites-143220" target="_blank">miss out on a digital trend</a>, the Obama White House announced a reboot of its Apple and Android mobile app on Wednesday (Sept. 5) just in time for President Obama&#39;s convention speech Thursday night.</p>
<p>
The app, which provides users with alerts for livestreams of presidential events, is most likely a sly move by the White House to draw more eyeballs to the president&#39;s campaign speeches as he traverses the country in the weeks before the election. The app also sports a sleek new design which enables users to scan blog posts and high-resolution White House photos.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
And for the technorati, and those voters turned on by innovation, the mobile app reboot also presents an opportunity for the White House to remind the world of its continued commitment to open source technologies. For instance, the app&#39;s code both for Apple&#39;s iOS software and Android is open for developers to tinker with.</p>
<p>
Besides the updated app, the Obama campaign also unveiled a revamped mobile site on Wednesday. Indeed, at the end of the day, the mobile makeover&#39;s timing suggests that the president&#39;s campaign is looking to get its message and body of work in front of as many potential mobile-and-tablet-wielding voters as possible in a race where every vote counts.</p>
TechnologyAndroidCodeElection 2012iOSIpadCharlie WarzelObamaOpen SourceWhite HouseWed, 05 Sep 2012 21:16:01 +0000143360 at http://www.adweek.comAdweek's Digital Guide to Election Apps and Siteshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/adweeks-digital-guide-election-apps-and-sites-143220
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/rnc-cnn-facebook-2012_0.jpg"> <p>
If the 2008 election cycle was dominated by the blog, then 2012 will most surely be the cycle defined by digital. Be it through apps, dashboards, social streams, livestream videos or interactive charts, publishers, candidates and media outlets are looking to make their mark in the digital space and cover the presidential race.</p>
<p>
With such a glut of eye-glazing political content, it&#39;s hard for a constituent to know what digital tools to use. Luckily,&nbsp;<em>Adweek</em> poured over these resources to help everyone&mdash;from weekend pundits to the most serious politicos&mdash;stays plugged in to this historic race.<br />
<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/technology/adweeks-digital-guide-election-apps-sites-143221" target="_blank"><br />
<br />
<strong>GALLERY: Adweek&#39;s Digital Guide to Election Apps and Sites</strong></a></p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
Technology2012 electionAppsCnnDashboardDigital MediaCharlie WarzelFacebookHearst TelevisionObamaOnlineReutersRomneySunlight FoundationTumblrTwitterWashington PostYoutubeThu, 30 Aug 2012 14:31:57 +0000143220 at http://www.adweek.comRomney Will Announce Vice Presidential Pick via Apphttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/romney-will-announce-vice-presidential-pick-app-142333
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/mitt-vp-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
It would appear that the Mitt Romney campaign loves apps.</p>
<p>
With less than 100 days to go, Mitt Romney&#39;s digital team this morning announced an iPhone and Android app called &quot;Mitt&#39;s vp&quot; that will &quot;enable push notifications to get the exciting [vp] news before the press and just about everyone else.&quot;&nbsp;</p>
<p>
This isn&#39;t the Romney camp&#39;s first foray into the app world. Last May the campaign <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/make-your-own-amercia-mittstagram-140833" target="_blank">created a Romney-centric Instagram</a>-esque&nbsp;app, which infamously bungled the spelling of the word &quot;America&quot; and got Mitt trending on Twitter in an unfortunate way.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
While it sports a sleek design, the app, as it stands now, is little more than a way for supporters to sync Facebook and Twitter accounts and make seamless donations to the Romney campaign. It&nbsp;may also be used to bring more email addresses and social network accounts into the Romney campaign&#39;s databases.</p>
<p>
Vincent Harris, a former digital strategist for the Perry and Gingrich primary campaigns, believes the vp announcement is a perfect news event for an app. &ldquo;It allows the Romney campaign to connect directly with voters and will allow them to rally the troops in the future,&quot; he said. &quot;Smartphone users are hyperactive voters, constantly consuming information via their devices. This application plays well to help satisfy the craving these people have to be the first to receive breaking news.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
In 2008, the Obama campaign announced Joe Biden&#39;s vp nomination via text message, though the announcement was scooped by media outlets. Romney&#39;s investment in this spiffy app would indicate that the campaign is trying hard to stay in control of its message and break what may very well be the last news story it can control before election day.</p>
<p>
Not to be bested though, President Obama&#39;s campaign <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nafYT7_i4as&amp;feature=em-uploademail" target="_blank">also released an app today</a>. Similar to Romney&#39;s, the platform has a tab for donations, but the app&#39;s primary goal will be to provide essential facts and election information to supporters, including state-specific voting laws and requirements to get the Obama faithful out in droves on Election Day. Though the Obama and Romney apps serve different purposes, download stats may help to reveal where the candidates stand, at least in the digital space, with less than 100 days to go.</p>
TechnologyAppsAppsCampaignElection 2012ObamaCharlie WarzelVice PresidentVotingVP pickTue, 31 Jul 2012 16:43:01 +0000142333 at http://www.adweek.comPoliticians, Advertisers Capitalize on Healthcare Rulinghttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/politicians-advertisers-capitalize-healthcare-ruling-141512
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/warzel-healthcare-6-29-12.jpg"> <p>
Today in Washington, the Supreme Court <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-393c3a2.pdf" target="_blank">upheld the Affordable Care Act</a>, known by many as Obamacare, ruling to uphold President Barack Obama&#39;s individual healthcare mandate. Well before the court offered an opinion, the case was heralded as one of the biggest court decisions in decades and a focal point in an already intense election year. The Washington media and social echo chamber, known nowadays for their <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/140-character-or-less-campaign-140067" target="_blank">intense scrutiny</a> on even the most paltry of issues, was geared up for wall-to-wall coverage of the landmark case, and as always, advertisers salivated over the opportunity to capitalize on the media frenzy.</p>
<p>
The decision rocketed across the Internet shortly after 10 a.m. ET spawning an absolute frenzy on Twitter that well exceeded the recent chatter during Obama&#39;s endorsement of gay marriage and rivaled that of this year&#39;s massive State of the Union tweet volume. The outpouring of tweets was significant enough that Twitter&#39;s government outlet, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/gov" target="_blank">@gov</a>, weighed in:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
QUICK STATS: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523SCOTUS">#SCOTUS</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523Obamacare">#Obamacare</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523HCR">#HCR</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523ACA">#ACA</a> / etc Tweets peaked at more than 13K per minute at 10:17 a.m. ET&hellip; Charts later.</p>
&mdash; Twitter Government (@gov) <a data-datetime="2012-06-28T14:47:44+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/gov/status/218355006234042369">June 28, 2012</a></blockquote>
<p>
Parsing through social and search sites throughout the morning, it is clear the Obama campaign dominated search advertising on key terms on both Google and Bing.<a href="http://www.barackobama.com/healthcare" target="_blank"> BarackObama.com</a> offered the top advertised spot on crucial search terms like &quot;obamacare,&quot; &quot;supreme court,&quot; &quot;scotus,&quot; &quot;aca&quot; (affordable care act) and terms like &quot;healthcare companies.&quot;</p>
<p>
Republicans were less viable on search, with sites like secure.gop.com advertising on the term &quot;affordable care act.&quot; However, on Twitter, <em>Adweek</em> noticed the Republican National Committee (<a href="http://twitter.com/gop" target="_blank">@GOP</a>) had promoted tweets featured under the Twitter search term &quot;obamacare.&quot; On conservative news sites like <a href="http://www.drudgereport.com" target="_blank">Drudge Report</a>, the top advertisement on the site this morning read, &quot;Repeal It All!,&quot; an ad paid for by the Senate Conservatives Fund.</p>
<p>
Some blue-chip financial companies also looked to capitalize on the healthcare decision frenzy with <a href="http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Home/home.htm" target="_blank">JPMorgan Chase</a> advertising on CNN&#39;s live news blog and <a href="http://www.fidelity.com" target="_blank">Fidelity Investments</a> holding the top promoted tweet on the Twitter search term, &quot;healthcare.&quot; The companies are no doubt hoping to capture the attention of a largely intelligent and politically engaged audience. There were also a few advertisers that seemed to come out of left field, with some like the business card printer <a href="http://moo.com" target="_blank">Moo.com</a> advertising with a promoted tweet on the Twitter search term &quot;affordable care act&quot; throughout the morning.</p>
<p>
Even Google&#39;s product side looked to get in on the media blitz, paying to advertise their Google Nexus 7 tablet on <a href="http://www.cnn.com" target="_blank">CNN&#39;s</a> homepage leading up to and after the court&#39;s decision. Google announced its tablet only yesterday at its I/O developers conference. CNN was also the subject of intense ridicule this morning after falsely reporting both on its website and on air that the court struck down the Obama mandate, a decision that, for better or worse, brought extra eyes to CNN&#39;s homepage and Google&#39;s ads.</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
TechnologyHealthcareIndividual MandateObamaRomneySupreme CourtCharlie WarzelThu, 28 Jun 2012 17:42:47 +0000141512 at http://www.adweek.comAnalyst: Healthcare Could Quickly Turn Into a Billion-Dollar Ad Categoryhttp://www.adweek.com/news/television/analyst-healthcare-could-quickly-turn-billion-dollar-ad-category-141368
Sam Thielman<p>
Pivotal Research senior analyst Brian Wieser said today that he sees health insurance becoming a huge advertising category in the next year if the Supreme Court upholds <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/03/obamacare-and-supreme-court" target="_blank">President Obama&#39;s Affordable Care Act</a>. Currently, health insurers mostly advertise directly to businesses, which can choose to buy policies for their employees. &quot;However,&quot; wrote Wieser in a report on the subject, &quot;if the exchanges contemplated by the act take widespread effect, the primary marketing goal for healthcare insurers would likely focus on consumers.&quot;</p>
<p>
That, of course, would be great news for anyone who owns a television network. If the Supreme Court upholds Affordable Care, Pivotal estimates the value of the category at $2.5 billion; approximately 6 percent of national TV ad spending overall, which Wieser estimates would be more or less evenly distributed across media owners starting in fall 2013. It wouldn&#39;t necessarily start with a bang, the Pivotal report cautions&mdash;the growth of the category on national TV might not make headlines, but it would still contribute to the ad market.</p>
<p>
The Web would also get a large share of the new market, according to the Pivotal data&mdash;under $600 million, much of which would go to health sites like WebMD, Yahoo Health, MSN Health and About.com.</p>
<p>
And if the court doesn&#39;t uphold the act? Well, just ask<a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/06/senate-candidate-accidentally-reacts-every-possible-health-care-outcome/53807/" target="_blank"> this guy</a>&nbsp;what to do.&nbsp;He&#39;s prepared for everything.</p>
TelevisionAffordable Care ActBrian WieserHealthcareObamaPivotal ResearchFri, 22 Jun 2012 21:11:55 +0000141368 at http://www.adweek.comThere's an App for Giving Obama Your Moneyhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/theres-app-giving-obama-your-money-140330
Charlie Warzel<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/quickdonate.jpg"> <p>
As we head in to what is expected to be the most expensive campaign cycle in history, candidates are trying to exploit every possible advantage to raise the cash necessary to keep the wheels turning another day. One such avenue, mobile, is new to this cycle, and has campaigns drooling over the possibilities of soliciting almost instantaneous donations from citizens on the go.</p>
<p>
The problem, however, is well documented&mdash;when it comes to Internet behavior, people are notoriously lazy. Especially when they&rsquo;re being asked to give up their hard earned money.</p>
<p>
Yet, Jascha Franklin-Hodge and the team at Blue State Digital, an organization that specializes in online fundraising, advocacy, and social networking, think they may have a solution. And that&rsquo;s music to the Obama campaign&rsquo;s ears. Founded in 2005, by Franklin-Hodge and several former Howard Dean staffers, Blue State Digital provided key measures of technological infrastructure to the 2008 Obama presidential campaign and is working in a similar capacity this year.</p>
<p>
In the last few months, Blue State Digital has rolled out their Quick Donate platform to provide one click giving options to political campaigns (like Obama&#39;s) and non-profit clients. According to Franklin-Hodge, every consideration behind the technology aims to make donating money as painless and easy as possible. &ldquo;My big pet peeve with sites are the drop down menus where you have to add information like, Mr., Ms., or Dr.,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I look at that stuff and say, you are costing yourself money, here. You don&rsquo;t need to know this.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Franklin-Hodge claims that Quick Donate is the first platform that will allow users (after a quick signup process) to respond to a link in a text or email and immediately donate a set amount to a campaign (previously, charitable orgs were allowed to use mobile carriers to donate, but the process was slow and carriers often took large cuts of the donation, up to 30 percent). On top of the quick donations, Blue State Digital can also monitor the information and donor usage patterns to tailor donation requests in order to achieve optimal results and even sign up more users. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve found the best time to ask people to do something that is annoying is right after they&rsquo;ve already made a donation because there is an emotional high that comes from something that is a bit altruistic. It&rsquo;s a good time to ask people.&rdquo;</p>
TechnologyBlue State DigitalElection 2012FundraisingMobileMobileCharlie WarzelPoliticsThu, 10 May 2012 21:22:25 +0000140330 at http://www.adweek.comTwitter Erupts Over Obama Gay Marriage Interviewhttp://www.adweek.com/news/press/twitter-erupts-over-obama-gay-marriage-interview-140190
Charlie Warzel<p>
Those who follow the social conversation on Twitter know that the site can go wild over the most mundane pieces of news; they also know that any <em>true</em> breaking news causes the social network to absolutely erupt.</p>
<p>
Yesterday was one of those days.</p>
<p>
<em>Adweek</em> first noticed the news a little before 9 a.m. EST, when <em><a href="http://www.nyt.com" target="_blank">New York Times</a></em> media reporter Brian Stelter released one of his typical breaking news teases to his Twitter followers:<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Some interesting political TV news bubbling up this morning...</p>
&mdash; Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) <a data-datetime="2012-05-09T12:53:45+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/200206925080707072">May 9, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
However, the real scoop appears to have come from <em>Times</em> reporter Michael Barbaro, whose tweet came at 8:43 a.m.:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
I am told that Robin Roberts is likely to discuss same-sex marriage with President Obama today, who may clarify his position on the issue.</p>
&mdash; Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) <a data-datetime="2012-05-09T12:43:12+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/mikiebarb/status/200204271185178624">May 9, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
From there the floodgates opened, as the ABC News interview with Robin Roberts and President Obama was confirmed for 1:30 p.m. Politicians weighed in from both sides of the aisle, which naturally helped add to the din and jumpstart futher discussion. If you&#39;re looking for that commentary, the <em>Washington Post</em> did a great job aggregating reactions from politicians&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-same-sex-marriage-announcement-politicians-react-on-twitter-facebook/2012/05/09/gIQAwYBmDU_blog.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>
In fewer than seven hours, President Obama&#39;s official gay marriage endorsement tweet was retweeted almost a mind-numbing 50,000 times, according to <a href="http://retweetingobama.com/" target="_blank">RetweetingObama</a>.</p>
<p>
Twitter reports that there were more than 7,347 tweets per minute related to the Obama news after Reuters&#39; <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/press/abc-bungles-obama-gay-marriage-scoop-140187" target="_blank">Matthew Keys scooped </a>an ABC URL leak. Twitter has provided a graph below.</p>
<p>
<br />
<img alt="" src="/files/warzel-twitter-obama-5-10-12.jpg" /></p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Yesterday capped off what has been a growing trend of gay marriage-related tweets as the conversation picked up around 2010 and has since been slowly intensifying. Twitter has also provided a chart to show how the cultural shifts have led to more gay marriage conversation on the social network.</p>
<p>
<br />
<img alt="" src="/files/warzel-twitter-marriage-5-10-12.jpg" /></p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
This is just more proof that we&#39;ve moved into a social existence on the internet, where news is increasingly shared and discussed from multiple platforms anywhere, anytime. As a political issue, Obama&#39;s endorsement of same-sex marriage fit seamlessly into the conversation on Twitter as the social network spread the historic news.</p>
The PressGay MarriageObamaReutersSocial WebTwitterThu, 10 May 2012 17:57:29 +0000140190 at http://www.adweek.comABC Bungles Obama Gay Marriage Scoophttp://www.adweek.com/news/press/abc-bungles-obama-gay-marriage-scoop-140187
Charlie Warzel<p>
President Obama&#39;s announcement of his support for same-sex marriages this afternoon was touted as a major win for network TV, getting the scoop over cable and the noisy clamor of the Internet. Yet, what looked to be an airtight scoop for the network appears to have been bested once again by the relentless efforts of journalists on Twitter.</p>
<p>
At 2:50 p.m. EST, roughly eight minutes before ABC was to break into daytime programming with a special report, Reuters deputy social media editor Matthew Keys noticed and tweeted a URL slug essentially leaking the Obama announcement.<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
ABC News may have accidentally leaked Obama gay marriage announcement. See URL slug - <a href="http://t.co/QAZeRUzW" title="http://abcn.ws/JySAdj">abcn.ws/JySAdj</a></p>
&mdash; Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew) <a data-datetime="2012-05-09T18:50:38+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/ProducerMatthew/status/200296740119785472">May 9, 2012</a></blockquote>
<p>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>
Minutes later, at 2:55 p.m. EST Keys tweeted a screengrab of the ABC News video, to prove the legitimacy.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p>
Just in case ABC News pulls the clip again, here is a screen grab - <a href="http://t.co/aU73C8Xq" title="http://yfrog.com/kjzevp">yfrog.com/kjzevp</a></p>
&mdash; Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew) <a data-datetime="2012-05-09T18:55:52+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/ProducerMatthew/status/200298055977811969">May 9, 2012</a></blockquote>
<script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>
So how does one catch this kind of thing? Keys responded to <em>Adweek</em> just after he broke the news via direct message on Twitter: &quot;I was filtering Google results by date for site &quot;abcnews.go.com,&quot; came across that, noticed the URL structure was the same to what we used at KGO, which is an ABC owned-and-operated station [in San Francisco]. I put two and two together.&quot;<br />
<br />
While it goes without saying that the interview was a huge win for ABC News&mdash;securing the big interview and the proprietary footage makes this one of the bigger days in recent memory for the network&mdash;Keys&#39; scoop also showcases the intensity of the current news cycle, where no exclusive is safe. ABC had advised employees not to tweet the news and did an admirable job keeping the news from leaking, only to be foiled by a former affiliate employee with a keen and obsessive eye for news.</p>
The PressABC NewsGay MarriageNewsObamaScoopCharlie WarzelTwitterTwitterWed, 09 May 2012 20:04:49 +0000140187 at http://www.adweek.comEvery Picture (and Tweet, and Clip) Tells a Storyhttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/every-picture-and-tweet-and-clip-tells-story-140074
Tim Peterson<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/tt-storify-hed-2012.jpg"> <p>
With the <a href="/node/140067">presidential elections underway</a> and the <a href="/node/139682">Olympics coming up</a>, this is a big year for event-driven journalism&mdash;and for social publishing tool Storify.</p>
<p>
Storify built its name on enabling reporters, bloggers or anyone to aggregate status updates, tweets, links and YouTube videos and embed them into a blog-style, continuous-stream article treatment that can then live on a site of one&rsquo;s choosing. The concept is fairly simple: capture as much content as possible on a particular topic from numerous voices across the Web in an easy-to-consume format.</p>
<p>
The product launched in closed beta in fall 2010 before rolling out to the public last spring. While the startup has grown from its two co-founders to a crew of only six full-timers, co-founder Burt Herman said 22 of the top 25 U.S. news sites use Storify as do the Obama and Romney campaigns as well as brands including Dell, General Electric, IBM, Adobe, Virgin America and Samsung. (Storify does not yet sell advertising.)</p>
<p>
Reuters social media editor Anthony De Rosa has been on Storify since its beta period. &ldquo;We actually featured a story during the U.K. riots on the front page that was completely built using Storify,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;ve been moments here or there where it&rsquo;s gone beyond just bloggers using it, and I think you&rsquo;re starting to see more and more it&rsquo;s going out to much larger audiences at bigger name media organizations.&rdquo; Besides Reuters, <em>The Washington Post </em>also uses Storify.</p>
<p>
Herman said an immediate priority is to capitalize on Storify&rsquo;s growing readership. &ldquo;What we want to do moving forward is leverage the fact that we have basically the top curators, but now we [also] have a lot of people reading the stories,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;[Those readers] don&rsquo;t have as much that they can actually do [with the content] and not everybody is going to create a story in Storify, so we really want to enable the readers to do curation on a smaller scale.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Last Friday, Storify announced it was expanding readers&rsquo; ability to comment on or share any element within a Storify post to a larger number of social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+, as well as email.</p>
<p>
Expanded, user-driven distribution is one way Storify looks to expand its reach, but not the only one.</p>
<p>
Last month, the company signed its first syndication deal with news aggregator Pulse to distribute stories from top users through the mobile and tablet app. Storify partnered with Pulse &ldquo;to show that we want to help our creators get an audience for what they do and enable the stories to go anywhere,&rdquo; said Herman.</p>
<p>
Storify plans to sign on more syndication partners, he said, singling out Internet portals as a possibility.</p>
TechnologyThe PressAppsDataObamaOnlineTim PetersonSocialStorifyThe News IssueYoutubeMon, 07 May 2012 04:05:33 +0000140074 at http://www.adweek.comAdman Hitches a Ride With the Romney Camphttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/adman-hitches-ride-romney-camp-137667
Andrew McMains<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/tt-jim-ferguson-2012.jpg"> <p>
With such minimal returns, why do advertising creative leaders continue to dive into presidential campaigns?</p>
<p>
Obviously, they are drawn by the allure of being part of something big. And what&rsquo;s bigger than helping to elect the leader of the free world? Also, who wouldn&rsquo;t want to help create another legendary ad like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-IBF8nwSY" target="_blank">&ldquo;Morning in America&rdquo;</a> for Ronald Reagan in 1984?</p>
<p>
The reality, however, is that presidential campaigns today rely on highly targeted, tactical efforts&mdash;often created by D.C.-based shops&mdash;not on glossy, anthemic films. Consequently, creators of campaign ads often end up with just a poster or an online video to show for their efforts, if they&rsquo;re lucky.</p>
<p>
Jim Ferguson learned that lesson in 2000 when he was part of then-Republican candidate George W. Bush&rsquo;s &ldquo;Park Avenue Posse,&rdquo; a group that also included Bob Kuperman and Gary Goldsmith. At the time, Ferguson, then chief creative officer at Young &amp; Rubicam New York, suggested several ideas for commercials, though none saw the light of day. Still, he&rsquo;s taking another stab at kingmaking this year, aligning himself with the Republican front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.</p>
<p>
In a typically frank interview, Ferguson, a 57-year-old Texan known for his colorful use of language, acknowledged his swing and miss with Bush but said it was already different this time around. For one, he&rsquo;s part of Romney&rsquo;s staff, working full-time as a creative director rather than moonlighting, as he did with Bush. Also, he has embraced the tactical nature of the beast.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;The difference now for me is I&rsquo;m in the middle of it,&rdquo; Ferguson said last week. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m there slugging it out every day with, &lsquo;What did the governor say on the stump today, and how are we going to turn that into a 30-second spot?&rsquo; or a Web video or something like that. So right now I&rsquo;m out shooting commercials here in Iowa.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Less than two months in, Ferguson already has had a hand in nearly a dozen TV ads and a steady stream of online videos. Now that he&rsquo;s outside of the big agency world and his own boss (he runs a small Dallas shop, Fire in the Hole), he can put product advertising on hold and work every day in the trenches.</p>
<p>
Ferguson&rsquo;s ads are generally issue-oriented and not legendary. Still, he feels part of a larger calling. &ldquo;I f-ing love what I&rsquo;m doing now. I f-ing love it, man. This is exciting and I&rsquo;m on the ground&rdquo; floor, Ferguson said, adding that he has long been interested in politics. &ldquo;You go on a journey to find out what you really like and what turns you on. And what turns me on is the fact that I&rsquo;m making a difference.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Lenny Stern certainly shares that sentiment, having worked as a political consultant before co-founding the brand consultancy SS+K in 1993. The shop had largely steered clear of politics until 2008 when Barack Obama&rsquo;s camp hired it to reach younger voters, a segment that helped propel him into office. As Stern put it, &ldquo;When you can be part of something and use communications to help engage people around an issue, a person or a movement that you think can make your community, your country or&mdash;dare I say it?&mdash;the world a better place, that&rsquo;s a pretty exciting thing.&rdquo;</p>
Advertising & BrandingAgenciesCreativeElection 2012MarketingObamaAndrew McMainsRomneyPoliticsTue, 24 Jan 2012 11:16:19 +0000137667 at http://www.adweek.com